Embers
by ancientgreekfreak
Summary: "She stared at the cold gray stones that had once been filled with light and warmth, like her life used to be, and now she was just like this fireplace, cold and barren. And she fell asleep in the ashes of her former life." Or, the story of how Katniss Everdeen was brought back to life by none other than Peeta Mellark.


**A/N: My first Hunger Games story! Sorry to sound so cliché, but I seem to be experiencing a mild form of delirium after studying for my Algebra 2 HN final. I was trying to work the unit circle, and somehow ended up with **_**this.**_** Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: The only similarity Suzanne Collins and I share is that we're both female. And ship Everlark. **

**Brought to you by math-induced delirium and my new Vera Bradley bag. **

_Katniss Everdeen, the Girl on Fire._ It felt a lifetime ago that the title had belonged to her, since she had felt truly on fire. Sitting catatonically in a rocking chair in her house, she felt like the embers remaining after the flames had gone out, a sad reminder of what once had been. _Prim_. Out of all the people in the world to have taken away from her during the rebellion, it had to be Prim. Her only goal in life had been to protect Prim, she was the reason for volunteering, for joining the damn rebellion in the first place, and now she was gone, forever.

The thought made her slide off the rocking chair in which she had been siting and onto the cold wood floor in front of the fireplace. She stared at the cold gray stones that had once been filled with light and warmth, like her life used to be, and now she was just like this fireplace, cold and barren. And she fell asleep in the ashes of her former life.

She woke from a dream of fire and mutts and blood, and realizes there is someone in her house. Most people in this situation would wonder if the intruder was there to kill them. At this point, she honestly did not care one way or another. In fact, she might actually thank someone here to kill her, for freeing her from this torture. As it turns out, it was Greasy Sae, who, in her eternal mission to keep people fed, began making breakfast and dinner for Katniss every day. She never forced Katniss to eat, merely left the food on the counter with a pointed look, and left. Sometimes Katniss decided to ingest a few bites of the food so that Sae's time wouldn't have been totally wasted, but other days, the worst days, she merely sat in the rocking chair, staring mindlessly at walls for hours, sometimes days on end, only falling asleep when sheer exhaustion got the best of her, waking up to cramped legs and a reality no better than the nightmares. It became a sort of routine- wake up, decide whether or not to eat, then stare. Until the day _he _came back.

Katniss had already decided that it was going to be a staring sort of day, when he came in with his golden hair, clear baby blue eyes, and a wheelbarrow full of primroses, completely throwing off her plans for the day. She felt a twinge of _something_ as she marched out of the house into her yard to greet him, and decided that she was annoyed at the disruption of her plans. It was the most emotion she had felt in a long time.

She stared and stuttered and took in his appearance. He looked better, his burns were fading into scars, his face had regained its fullness, and he seemed as in-shape as ever. Katniss ran a nervous hand through her hair, noting for the first time how disheveled and generally disgusting she looked. Taking another quick glance back at him, she raced inside, and showered, (one of the only perks of having a house in the Victor's Village) washing her hair, and putting medication on her peeling skin grafts. When she ventured downstairs, Greasy Sae had left dinner on the counter, as per usual, but Peeta was there, sheepishly ladling stew into a bowl.

"I can leave, if you're not comfortable with this yet."

"No, you can stay," she responds in a voice so small he wonders if he imagined it. Little does he know they're the first words she'd spoken in months.

They sat across the table from each other, silently sipping stew and contemplating the other. Peeta finally breaks the silence by standing up with his empty bowl and washing it before leaving. Katniss valiantly attempts to fake a smile for him before he exited, but failed and settled for a little wave.

After that first encounter, things seemed to go rapidly uphill. Katniss started to outwardly take care of herself, applying burn ointment to her grafts, showering occasionally, talking to Doctor Aurelius, and on especially good days, sitting in the woods, just losing herself in nature. She can't bring herself to hunt yet, and she doesn't know if she ever can again, but for now, just being in the wilderness of her childhood is enough. Peeta came over with a loaf of bread in hand twice a day, every day, for both breakfast and dinner. Sometimes, they made small talk about their day, and sometimes they just stared at one another in silence.

There was a barrier between them, one that neither of them was willing to breach just yet. Until one day after dinner, when Peeta's bowl came crashing down on its way to the sink, and Peeta came down with it. He collapsed into fetal position, hands clasped over his ears, rocking back and forth, muttering under his breath about mutts and his family. Immediately, Katniss' protective instincts kicked in, and she flew to his side. "You!" he yelled, pointing a finger in her direction. "You killed my family!" Katniss clasped his wrists in an effort to still him, and whispered, "Not real, Peeta. Not real," over and over again, as if it were a mantra and eventually his quivering stopped, and his tense muscles loosened. She slumped to the floor in relief, and Peeta chose that moment to come to.

Clutching his head, he slowly sat up, and asked, "What just happened?" As gently as possible, she informed him that he had just had an episode. He instantaneously became alert asked, "Did I hurt you?" a panicked look in his eyes. She fought the urge to smile at this reminder that through it all, he was still the boy with the bread. Noting the expression on his face, she hastily replied, "No, not at all. You didn't even touch me, really." He looked at her skeptically, but seems to accept this as fact when he notes her lack of bruises. So they sat together on the kitchen floor, on top of the shards of the bowl as broken as the wall between them.

From then on, Katniss and Peeta gradually began to spend more time together. It began with idle conversation during meals, then working on the Memory Book together, Katniss' idea, inspired by the book of herbs. They heal together, Katniss helping Peeta work through his episodes, answering his questions. She felt that it was the least she could do, because no matter how many times he told her otherwise, she would always feel that his hijacking was her fault. Peeta made sure she took her pills, gently coaxed her back into hunting, and would always comfort her after her nightmares. The abundance of cheese buns didn't hurt, either. And thus, they settled into a comfortably mundane routine: eating breakfast together, going their separate ways for either hunting or baking, making dinner together (Greasy Sae suspiciously stopped showing up soon after Peeta's arrival), then working on the memory book together. They were always meticulous in making sure that they never fell asleep together, neither quite ready to cross that line yet, until one night, when the pair was working on the memory book after a day quite like any other.

They were both rather exhausted and working on a page in the book much later than they had previously been accustomed to. However, neither wanted to stop working until a particular person's page was complete, so that they could mourn them properly and go home, without the memories of the person weighing on their chest. This was the theory at least, and in no way did it stop the nightmares that they could have one another having, even three houses away from one another. Anyhow, on this particular night they were both so exhausted that after the page was done, they just sat on Katniss' sofa, trying to muster up the energy to walk away. Peeta kept blinking, each one longer and longer, until Katniss felt the weight of his head on her shoulder. The faint scent of cinnamon and vanilla was the last thing she registered before she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Katniss was the first one awake in the morning, and was confused and oddly comforted by the two bands of steel securing her to her sofa. It was then that she realized that the bands were in fact arms, connected to a gently snoring Peeta. She tried gently extricating herself from his arms, but the attempts only made him hold her tighter. She felt the urge to panic, but took deep, steadying breaths. The sudden flurry of motion woke Peeta up, and he nearly sat straight up in shock, almost knocking Katniss off her already precarious position on the couch. She shocked even herself when she said, "Tonight, we sleep on a bed." And they did, that night, and every night after that.

Even though they slept in the same bed every night, did not mean that there was any sort of romantic interactions between the two. They both ached for more, Peeta consciously, and Katniss unconsciously, fighting the feeling whenever it snuck up on her. And just like all the milestones in her life, it happened on a day seemingly like any other. Peeta was attempting to teach Katniss the fine art of baking, which basically meant that he was baking, and Katniss was stealing some batter whenever he turned around. He was determined to catch her in the act, and when he suspected that she was stealing some, he turned around hastily, the flour in his hand forgotten, until it flew from in between his fingers to spattered all over her nose. She raised an eyebrow. "It's on, Mellark."

And so she chased him throughout the house flinging random bits of food at his face and hoping that they would stick, while he did the same, each one carelessly attempting to oust one another. Laughter rang out through the house, until Peeta came to an abrupt stop, Katniss right behind him. They looked at one another, panting, and he noted how _damn beautiful_ she looked with cake ingredients splattered all over her face, and kissed her. _And she was on fire once more. _

_**A/N: OMG, that took forever (my longest fic yet)! I might do a second chapter, like a sequel with more of Peeta's point of view if you guys want it, but for now it's just a one shot. Sorry for the crappy middle, but the guy I like was chatting with me on Facebook, so I was mildly to totally distracted. Anyways, REVIEW! **_____

_**Love, **_

_ **Ancientgreekfreak**_


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